Eggplant

This blog has moved to www.chardetc.com. See you there. :)

Eggplant ready for action

I've ended up with an overabundance of eggplant, so have been searching for good recipes.  My favorite so far is Alton Brown's Baba Ghanoush (see video here and written recipe below), and I also tried a Mirza Ghasemi (eggplant, tomatoes, onions, garlic, egg, turmeric) from my Persian cookbook, Food of Life.

Na'an lavash from Food of Life

Both of these are dip-like things and I had run out of the excellent pita from N&J's Bakery in Wichita so I had a look in the Food of Life cookbook to see what bread recipes might be there.  A lavash recipe didn't look too tricky so I tried it and was delighted with the results.  I cooked it on a non-stick cookie sheet on the grill, which no doubt contributed to the wonderful flavor.

Alton Brown's Baba Ghanoush
2 eggplant (2 c)
2 cloves garlic
3/4 t salt
5 T lemon Juice
4 T Tahini
Salt and pepper

Alton Brown's Baba Ganoush

 Poke the eggplant with a fork in at least 6 spots to release steam, then grill (or roast) at 400-450 for 7-8 minutes a side, until black all over.  Let cool, then scrape out insides and drain in a sieve for at least 30 minutes.  Don't neglect the draining... undrained eggplant takes on a bit of sour tobacco smell/taste that isn't very pleasant.

Toss the garlic into a food processor along with the salt, lemon juice and Tahini and process together.  Add eggplant and process.  Salt and pepper to taste, garnish with a sprig of parsley and serve with na'an or pita.

Mirza Ghasemi from Food of Life

Mirza Ghasemi
Click here for a food.com recipe.  Suggested changes:  drain the eggplant after scooping out the insides, add a diced onion to the garlic when you sauté it.  Add 1/4 t (at least) of turmeric.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash

This blog has moved to www.chardetc.com. See you there. :)

One of the truly great pleasures in life is to plant edible things, watch them grow, then harvest them, mix them with a few (usually very few) well-chosen ingredients and then savor them.  The pleasure is all the greater if it can be done with family and friends and a decent bottle of wine.

We've planted three yellow squash, three zucchini, seven tomato plants (cherry, Roma, two slicing varieties), five eggplants (which were supposed to have been Asian but are not) and eight red, orange and yellow peppers.  The rest of our produce (and eggs!) has come from Katharine's garden or Farmers Markets.

Fajitas

One of our favorite quick and easy summer dinners involving zucchini or squash (and tomatoes!) is fajitas.  We slice either kind of squash into about the same size as the peppers and toss each veggie separately with a bit of canola oil and season them with salt, then grill them on medium high.  Onions typically go on first, then peppers, then squash.  We cut up tomatoes (slicing tomatoes are cut into thinnish wedges, cherry tomatoes are halved) and salt them a bit, and tear off some leaves of romaine.  We use a tortilla warmer to heat flour tortillas, then we grab a selection of salsas (Pickapepper and Frontera Arbol or Ancho or any chipotle salsa for me; Cholula or Valentina for Mark at the moment).  If we have a piece of meat left over from the previous evening we slice it then and heat it.  (PS, Rick Bayless' margaritas go very nicely with this).

Squash  Blossoms



You know all those pretty blossoms on the yellow squash and zucchini plants?  They can be harvested, lightly battered and fried for some serious scrumptiousness.  We were first introduced to this delicacy when we were traveling in France with Lauren (who was two at the time).

When the flower is on the end of a baby zucchini, the whole thing can be harvested and fried.

Squash Pancakes/Frittata
When I was on the search for eggplant recipes, I came across a gold mine of a website called "Serious Eats".  On it was a suggestion for squash pancakes.  I thought we might try it for our Meatless Mondays dinner, and in general it was quite tasty but we will be using egg instead of yogurt as a binder next time so we can get a more frittata-like texture.

Change is Afoot

This blog has moved to www.chardetc.com. See you there. :)

Everyone in the neighborhood has chairs in front.

Such a lot of change in the life of our family. Lauren and William moved from Virginia to Cleveland last week, Katharine and George are finishing up their first berry-picking season together and getting ready for the Wee Elder to arrive at the end of August, things are adjusting for Mark, and I am thinking about my schedule for the fall.  And today Mark's parents and I visited Larksfield Place.

Wonderful dinner, per usual.  New table and chairs!

 The details are great fun, though: I spent a few days last week in Cleveland helping Lauren and William get moved into their rental house.  (They were kind enough to make me feel like I helped, anyway... I felt like I did a little more cheerleading while Lauren did most of the work - that girl doesn't stop moving very often!) We had a couple wonderful meals out (lunch at the Flying Pig and dinner at Paladar) and a couple of wonderful meals in (her famous squash pasta and a new Pasta Primavera from Frank Skitt's cookbook), a trip to the West Side Market downtown, visits to their new schools (University School for William, Ruffing Montessori for Lauren), and a walk around their delightful new Fernway neighborhood.

George's and Katharine's blackberry fence and veg garden

I can't get back into my new room at Coleman Middle School (where I've coordinated tutoring and mentoring for almost 20 years) for two weeks and Katharine is headed to Minnesota the last two weeks in July so it occurred to me it might be fun to offer some focused help with garden, house and whatever needs to be done to prepare for the arrival of the Wee Elder. The first order of business was the taming of the garden, which has grown a bit more than Katharine had expected. She took care of errant tomato branches while I cut back some weeds, sprayed a 20% vinegar solution on some of the bermuda and covered one of the paths between the raised beds with black paper and mulch. My hair was full of tiny burrs at the end of it all and Katharine had to take a brush to it and pick, pick, pick out the little guys. I spent the 20-minute drive home pulling the burrs out of my top and tossing them out the window to sprout along the roadside.

Picking blackberries

George and Katharine have done a terrific job keeping up with the raspberries and blackberries and using social media to let folks know when and where they are being sold, etc.  They've also hosted You-Picks every Saturday in June (photos and videos at www.eldersliefarm.com).  I didn't know what to expect the first time I went and was delighted to see that not only was it possible to go pick berries, but Katharine had prepared scones and mini-blackberry cobblers, Phil (George's dad) had picked up some very tasty coffee, and they had a wonderful set-up in the old carport.  I made some gelato and sorbet to contribute to the effort, which came out quite nicely if I do say so myself.  The whole thing was awesome.  Last week (June 30th) it was too hot to do much picking but they still had the baked goods, and a few people were able to go picking.  I'd go up there just for breakfast on Saturdays as long as they care to keep hosting us.

Must decide what I want to be called, and soon.  "Grandma" is not on the list of options. Mark will be Papi, like the Italian cousins call their dad - very approachable and friendly and endearing... would love to figure out something along those lines.